cohesion

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The William and Mary women's soccer team recorded its fourth-straight
victory with a 1-0 triumph at Villanova on Friday morning. Senior Mallory Schaffer provided the
game-winner off an assist from classmate Cortlyn Bristol in the 80th minute. The win improves the
College's record to 4-2, while Villanova falls to 1-4-2.

Firstly, congratulations to Stoke for improving upon their average goal tally at Reading. They
scored one whereas last season they managed less than one goal a game, scoring 36 goals in 38
games. And guess what the majority were from set plays (58% !!)

I must confess to liking Tony Pulis as a man, he is passionate, committed and honest (though
deluded!

Firstly, congratulations to Stoke for improving upon their average goal tally at Reading. They
scored one whereas last season they managed less than one goal a game, scoring 36 goals in 38
games. And guess what the majority were from set plays (58% !!)

I must confess to liking Tony Pulis as a man, he is passionate, committed and honest (though
deluded!

The proposed exit of Leicester City midfielder, Lee Peltier, has exposed just how flawed the
Foxes' transfer policy was last season.

The previous summer, Leicester spent over Â£10m on nine new players, in a bid to reclaim a place
in the Premier League. Their plan backfired spectacularly, with boss, Sven Goran Erickson, sacked
by October, leaving a squad unfamiliar with each other to battle on their own.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has conceded that fatigue may have drained his team out of energy
over the course of the shock 2-1 defeat to Wigan last night but insists that there is no excuse for
the lack of creativity in the decisive second half.

Thomas Vermaelen's impressive 20th minute header cut the Latics' early two-goal lead into half
but the Gunners could not find an equalizer, despite finishing the match with a plethora of
attacking options in the second half.

I gave up trying to talk to people about randomness in football about three years ago.Â
Rationally we know that in any givenÂ season the same Fulham team might finish 7th or 17th without
changingÂ a thing (injuries, bounces of theÂ ball, etc) but we're not interested in this.Â In this
game everything must have a reason and a culprit and there's no point trying to suggest
otherwise.

A hard defeat to swallow this one. From 1-0 up with 30 minutes to play albeit somewhat
fortuitously to 2-1 down at full time. Yeah, we weren't good tonight but that doesn't change the
overall shittiness of the way it all played out. I for one have yet to really come to grips with
what just happened.

In darker moments, when all rationale and clarity has gone AWOL and I've struggled to find
cohesion, it's difficult to see the positives when concentrating solely on the negatives. If
Monsieur Wenger has time, or even instructs a member of his staff to read the myriad of Arsenal
Blogs, I hope 'ArsenalArsenal' is right up there as 'A must read.

In darker moments, when all rationale and clarity has gone AWOL and I've struggled to find
cohesion, it's difficult to see the positives when concentrating solely on the negatives. If
Monsieur Wenger has time, or even instructs a member of his staff to read the myriad of Arsenal
Blogs, I hope 'ArsenalArsenal' is right up there as 'A must read.

Who would have guessed that Roma would pose more of a problem than Toronto FC, especially when
starting the likes of Totti, Osvaldo, Pjanic, Bradley, Rosi, and Burdisso, and bringing on Bojan,
Lamela, and Heinze in the second half?

With the 4 game losing streak finally broken the Portland Timbers can now look to earning their
first away win of the year. Getting that away win is always a big step and Portland didn't get that
last year until late over halfway through the first season. If they can get it earlier then last
year it will be a big step in recovering from the early funk they were in.

In November 2010, the Colorado Rapids took to a cold Toronto field and won an MLS Cup. On
Wednesday night, the team took the same field with hopes of linking "playoff" and "aspirations"
into a reality.

Playing in a stadium where the Rapids were 0-5-0 against the home team, Colorado saw those hopes
vanish in yet another 2-1 loss.

The Revs never recovered from Stephen McCarthy's early injury after he collided with Ryan
Johnson on Saturday. (Photo: Kari Heistad)

Stephen McCarthy's early injury gave Toronto FC an opening to grab the lead and the New England
Revolution were never able to recover from the early 1-0 deficit as they fell to TFC at Gillette
Stadium on Saturday night.

In the 2010/11 season, Villarreal earned themselves Champions League football, taking their
previous ability to move the ball seamlessly to a new degree; it was swiftly shifted from side to
side, around many a helpless opposition team.

Morning all, and welcome to a brand new week. It's all over for Holland and Robin van Persie as
they were beaten by Portugal 2-1 last night.

I have to admit I was looking forward to an exciting, attacking game of football. With the Dutch
needing to win by two clear goals â€“ while hoping for a Germany victory over Denmark â€“ I thought
they'd really go for it.

Chris Rolfe has yet to see the gameday roster for the Chicago Fire due to an ankle injury he
suffered after returning to the club following a stint of more than two years in Denmark. That
could be changing in the immediate future, though.

When a team scores nine goals in two matches, it is difficult to concentrate on the deficiencies
in the attack. New York Red Bulls forwards Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper have certainly stolen
headlines as the No. 1 and 2 goal scorers in Major League Soccer, respectively.

Is it power rankings roundup time already? Soccer America has the Union at No. 17. The Union are
No. 15 at the Toronto Sun and The Sports Network. At ESPN andÂ ProSoccerTalk the Union is at 14th.
SI has the Union at No.

The Rest

U.S. women's national team goalkeeper Hope Solo left quite the impression on this summer's
Olympics, between her controversial tweets about former U.S. great and television analyst Brandi
Chastain and her two massive saves against Japan in the Olympic final that helped the U.

Before Tuesday's trip to Guatemala City, a 1-1 draw might have seemed like an acceptable outcome
for the U.S. national team. The Americans, after all, knew they would be facing a hostile
environment and desperate opponent. But as it turned out, the result left much to be desired.

If season 2012 were a movie, right now it would be firmly inthe horror genre. TFC continues to
stick to the same script for all their homegames. It takes only a quick shot or a lucky break for
the road team when the home team never scores. San Jose thumped TFC, and now Chivas took the
Columbus route, scoring that minimum goal to take the three points.

I'm starting a new thing that I'm going to try to do weekly to increase more conversation both
here and on Twitter.Â What I'll do is I'll take some of the best comments and post them in a
follow up post later in the week.Â I'd wanted to get this out yesterday, but today will have to
do.

After crushing a paltry Cuban side two days prior, the American U-23's suffered a shocking defeat
at the hands of Canada by a score of 2-0. The defeat puts the American hopes of the 2012 Olympics
in serious doubt.

In the second match of Group A, the Canadians took advantage of set pieces by scoring on corner
kicks.

As the final whistle blew on the New York Red Bulls' season-opening loss to FC Dallas, no one
was more visibly angered than Thierry Henry - and with good reason.Â The Red Bulls' lack of
rhythm, cohesion and inability to move forward was a throw-back to a time he would have much rather
forgotten.